The Fire Within

Chapter 13 - Unspoken Conceptions

When she heard nothing for a few seconds, Sarah assumed that the room was empty. She stood there, debating whether to knock the door again. Finally, she raised her hand and knocked harder. A second later she heard the deep voice of Kevin resonate through the room.

"Come in."

Sarah pushed the door open and stepped inside. Kevin was in his business suit as usual, eyes glued to his laptop and fingers typing furiously at the keyboard.

"Sit down." He didn't look up from his screen.

She sat on the edge of the seat, fidgeting nervously. For a few minutes, only the typing sounds from Kevin's computer filled the room. The silence wasn't helping Sarah, who was getting more apprehensive by the minute. To distract herself, she started to examine her surroundings. But that turned out to be a bad idea too since all she could think of was the fact that she blatantly ignored a very trivial thing about this room which had cost her more than she'd imagined.

Deep down, she had an unsettling feeling that Kevin was doing this on purpose - making her wait, in order to unnerve her and to make her feel vulnerable. And that's exactly how she was feeling right now.

It was only when the typing sounds stopped abruptly that her eyes found Kevin to see him leaning back in his chair. His left arm rested on the armrest and his right lifted up to gently caress his hair. He stared at her as he did so. If he'd wanted to look intimidating, he definitely wasn't failing.

"So, Miss Brooks. I asked for you here to discuss an important issue." He said and stopped as if waiting for a reaction. She gave him none, so he continued. "About the delivery report."

Sarah visibly relaxed. It was nothing serious then. She really was being paranoid.

"You see, my uncle had his hands all tied up with the store room business. He couldn't manage to take a look at the delivery reports that you'd prepared, so he asked me to take care of it."

He paused for a breath. She just nodded, her face still impassive. He was probably going to insult her now.

"I was quite surprised to find the report adequately well written. Much better than I anticipated. To be honest, I didn't quite expect it at all from you", he said, but his voice held no surprise.

Nonetheless, Sarah blinked, taken aback by his words. This was the first time he'd complimented her - if she didn't consider their encounter a few years back - and he'd managed to insult her in the same sentence. She'd expected some rude remark about the report, but certainly not this. She didn't know how to react to it, and was saved by his continued talk.

"However, I do have a suggestion to make." He pulled out a file from his drawer and fished out the delivery report. The next ten minutes were spent on Kevin pointing out a few sentences, and describing to her how each of them could be turned around to change the way they were interpreted. By the end of the talk, Sarah had relaxed considerably and had agreed with him that there was place for improvement. She'd even entertained the thought that Kevin might finally be warming up to her.

Kevin put away the file and instead of relaxing, he put his arms on his desk, leaning forward. Sarah's eyes followed his movement, and when she looked up at him, he was already gazing at her intently. She sucked in a breath.

"So do you like it in here, Miss Brooks?"

Sarah was puzzled by the question for a moment, but answered it straightaway. "Yeah. A lot actually."

"What do you think of my uncle?"

Sarah wasn't sure where this was leading but she went along with it. "Mr Harper is a wonderful person and has always been very kind to me. It's an honor to work for him."